The invention disclosed herein pertains to a method and apparatus for removing articles such as glass and plastic bottles from containers such as boxes, cartons and crates and sorting the articles according to their color or other characteristics.
For convenience, glass and plastic bottles and other article configurations that can be processed with the apparatus will be called by the convenient generic term "bottles" herein.
German Patent DE 24 34 183 C3 discloses the concept of removing bottles from conveyed containers and sorting the bottles according to their colors using a scheme wherein several unpacking machines are arranged in series. Each machine is provided with sensors or detectors that are sensitive to and respond to a single color. The first machine withdraws bottles of a first color, such as clear bottles, from each container as it is conveyed past the first machine. The container with bottles having colors other than clear, such as brown and green, remaining in the container, after the first machine are conveyed to the second machine where the bottles of one of the remaining colors are withdrawn and then the container is conveyed to the next machine and so on until bottles of all colors are removed from the containers and are sent along individual paths.
There are two major problems with the preexisting approach outlined above. One is that an individual machine is needed for each bottle color or other distinguishing article characteristic. Thus, an exceedingly large investment must be made in machines. The other problem is that the series of machines take up a lot of floor space by themselves and so do the additional conveyors that are needed with this approach. This might even require a larger building than might otherwise be required if the single multi-color bottle separating machine disclosed herein were installed.